Billy Graham Center Archives

Interview of Esther L. (Wyzenbeek) Filkin - Collection 602

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents
in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton,
Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available
online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale
or rent. The recording of the oral history interview in this collection
may be borrowed through interlibrary
loan. ]

In cases where an individual document (paper record, photo, audio
recording, moving image recording, etc.) is online at the Archives’
Website, either the description of a specific item is underlined, or this
symbol --
-- appears next to a general description to indicate that an item covered
by that description is online. Clicking on the symbol or the underlining
will link to the item. If there are two or more of these symbols --
-- that appear by a description, the number of symbols indicates the number
of items covered by the description that are online, such as several different
photos from a photo file.]

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which
are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual
documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of
them. Nor are they available for sale or rent. The recording of the oral history
interview in this collection may be borrowed through interlibrary
loan. ]

Brief
Description. Oral history interview in which Filkin describes memories
from her girlhood of Paul Rader and the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, especially
its music program and of her father, Andrew Wyzenbeek.

Very
active as a girl in the programs of the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, particularly
its music program. She played the piccolo in many of the Tabernacle’s
radio broadcasts.

1932

Moved
to Hollywood, California; owned and operated her own dress shop.

Early
1980s

Moved
back to Chicago to care for her father, who died in 1984. She rejoined
Moody Church of Chicago, which she had belonged to as a girl

Scope
and Content

Esther
L. Filkin was interviewed by Bob Shuster on May 21, 2004, at her apartment in
Wheaton, Illinois. The events described in the interview cover the time period
1921-1932, with a few words about the early 1980s.

T1
( 93 minutes).Her
family’s involvement with the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle; exodus of musicians
from Moody Church to the Tabernacle; playing piccolo solos as the age of nine;
emphasis at the Tabernacle on missions as opposed to an impressive building;
the enclosed nursery; Paul Rader easily distracted during his preaching; physical
layout of the Tabernacle; the sound systems and recording systems; offices,
studios and other rooms off the main auditorium; twelve hour weekly broadcasts
on Sundays; how people traveled to the Tabernacle; crowds drawn by the radio
program; Rader’s preaching style; her father Andrew’s conversion
under Billy Sunday; Mel Trotter; Rader preaching on the story of Naaman; emphasis
on missions at the Tabernacle; Clarence Jones and HCJB; Peter Deyneka; independent
missionaries supported by the Tabernacle; A. M. Johnson; the Sunday School;
two completely different services at the Tabernacle every Sunday; different
attitudes at the Moody Church and the Tabernacle about instrumental music; the
music program at the Tabernacle [brief break in the recording]; no jazz; a typical
service; the evangelistic invitation; the origins of the Tabernacle’s
radio ministry using the city radio station; the hard work of the volunteer
Tabernacle broadcasts; the summer camp in Michigan; listening to the radio on
a hand-made crystal set; reason for Rader leaving the Tabernacle; becoming a
dressmaker in Hollywood; black people at the Tabernacle; W. B. Hogg; Gerald
B. Winrod; other Tabernacle activities; street preaching; personality of Clarence
Jones; Lance Latham; Ralph Rader; Luke Rader; memories of the Tabernacle; Torrey
M. Johnson; Andrew Wyzenbeek; other members of the Wyzenbeek family; Rader’s
prayers for the family; family devotions in three languages; her father as a
music teacher; working in her father’s engineering office; taking care
of her father in his nineties

Provenance

The
materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham
Center by Esther L. Filkin in May 2004.

Accession: 04-27July 21, 2009Bob Shuster

LOCATION RECORDAccession: 04-27Type of Material: Audio Tapes
The following items are located in the AUDIO TAPE file.

Item# - Reel or cassette,
speed, length, number of sides, contents (title of session, participants) according
to the program, date.